


Type-One Hero Ten

by stellarfluid



Series: things are upside-down here in lazytown! [1]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Diabetes, Diabetic Sportacus, Type-One Character, Type-One Sportacus, also unless u specifically know abt type-one, i like to project dont @ me, just sayin, ur concept of type-one diabetes is probably wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-30 23:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21436267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarfluid/pseuds/stellarfluid
Summary: Sportacus has type-one diabetes and explains it to the kids.
Series: things are upside-down here in lazytown! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545391
Comments: 7
Kudos: 37





	Type-One Hero Ten

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! im reposting this from my lazytown blog on tumblr @type1hero10 because. why not! i changed it up a bit to make it more of a story though! that being said, it still isn't that well written since its more of me fleshing out a hc than an actual fic. here's how i prefaced the post:
> 
> here’s my obligatory SPORTACUS HAS TYPE-ONE DIABETES post
> 
> honestly the main reason i like this headcanon is because i think its important for people to understand type-one and how one can be healthy with and despite it. and as a character who is like… the pinnacle of physical health, i think it would be a really interesting thing for sportacus to have and i love the hypothetical concept of him educating the kids (and therefore, the audience) about type-one since there are SO MANY misconceptions regarding it. 
> 
> i’m gonna go into more detail about it! i actually full on wrote out a story regarding how he explained type-one to the kids.
> 
> i like to think that his crystal can alert him about his blood sugar as well! 
> 
> EDIT 11/15: IM A SHITTY SPELLER i went thru and fixed all my spelling mistakes!  
EDIT 11/26: so obviously i missed spelling mistakes last time cuz i found more. sorry; those ones have been fixed too! thanks, grammarly!

Sportacus is usually so good at monitoring his type-one, that no one even knows he has it. He’s so active that his blood sugar is always on the lower side anyway, so when he’s out with the kids he can eat sportscandy without really having to worry about giving himself insulin for it. He does have an insulin pump, though, but no one ever really notices it.

One day, though, while he’s out playing with the kids, he gets a bit too caught up in the came they’re playing and his blood sugar _plummets_ and his crystal goes off (the “your blood sugar is low!” alert is different from the “someone’s in trouble!” alert, so he can very easily tell the difference), and he’s like “whoops!” so he steps out of the game for a little bit. The kids notice that his crystal went off but he doesn’t seem to be rushing off, so they’re a bit confused, and ask, “Sportacus, is someone in trouble?”

“Nope!” Sportacus says, then calls to his airship for some juice.

“But, your crystal!” Stephanie says.

“Yes, my crystal did alert me of something, but it wasn’t because anyone is in danger.” He catches the juice that his airship sent down, and takes a seat on a nearby bench.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asks. 

“Well–” Sportacus begins, and then stops. He didn’t realize he had never told the children about his diabetes before. He guesses he forgot about it. “It is a bit of a long story. Would you like me to explain?” The kids nod, and sit around him.

“Where should I begin?” he asks himself, and then says, “Ah!” and starts. “Well, you see, in almost all the food we eat, there is something called ‘carbohydrates’, or carbs. This is what our body uses for energy. Our body breaks it down into a good, healthy type of sugar – different than the sugar in candy! – that we need to keep going. Does that make sense?” The kids nod, with a few chimes of _'yeah, I think so,'_ and the like, so Sportacus continues.

“This good sugar, called ‘glucose’ or ‘blood sugar’, is the source of our body’s energy. It is necessary,” he says. “However, there is something our bodies need in order to turn it into energy. That thing is called ‘insulin’. It is made here–” he points to the general area in his own body where his pancreas is “– and is spread throughout the body to break down blood sugar to make it energy. All of you have very efficient bodies: your bodies can make and regulate insulin all by themselves!” 

The kids speak up with their, “wow!”s and “cool!”s and Sportacus smiles to himself, happy that they’re so excited to learn about this sort of thing. “But,” he says once they quiet down, “not everyone’s body is like this.”

“Huh?” Trixie says. “Why not?”

“Well, another thing our body has is something called an ‘immune system’. That is your body’s own personal superhero!” He pokes Ziggy in the stomach as he speaks, knowing that what he said is something that will make Ziggy excited (he’s right). “Your immune system fights off all the bad things in your body, and helps you to not get sick. But sometimes, your immune system makes mistakes.”

“It DOES?” Ziggy asks in awe. 

“It does!” Sportacus says. “My immune system, and a lot of other people’s, thinks the insulin our body makes is a bad guy, so it gets rid of it.”

“Wait – you don’t get insulin?” Stephanie asks, shocked. “What happens!”

“I have this!” Sportacus gestures at the insulin pump clipped to one of his pockets. The children gape at it, never having noticed it before.

“Whoa!” Pixel says, immediately fascinated by the technology. “What does it do?”

“It gives my body different insulin; a type that my immune system doesn’t try to get rid of!"

“What– what– what happens when you don’t have insulin?” Ziggy shouts.

“The glucose in my blood builds up, because I have no insulin to turn it into energy. It is very unhealthy.”

“That sounds bad!” Stingy says.

“It is – but don’t worry! Not only do I have this –” he pats his insulin pump “– to keep my blood sugar in the right place, but I can regulate it with exercise, too! Exercise also lowers your blood sugar.”

The kids pipe up with their excitement and fascination again, before Trixie stops and asks, “Wait. What does this have to do with your crystal going off, then? You were playing soccer with us, so you were exercising, right? That means your blood sugar should be fine!”

“Unfortunately, it is not that simple,” Sportacus says with a fond smile. “Remember how I said that your bodies are good at regulating the amount of insulin you have? That means your body makes sure your blood sugar is never too high OR too low. My body cannot do that either. When your blood sugar is too LOW, that is also bad. It can be worse than when your blood sugar is too high!” 

"Whoa, really?"

Sportacus nods just as his crystal beeps again. Oh, he had completely forgotten about his juice. He is really beginning to feel the low, now; his head hurts, and he is feeling a bit woozy. He puts a hold on his explanation, and downs a good half of his juice. 

“Normally,” he says after he has swallowed, “my blood sugar is okay because I pay close attention to it. I eat a lot of sportscandy while I’m being active to keep my blood sugar from getting too low. I seem to have gotten a bit too into today’s game, though, so I forgot about it!” 

Stingy gasps. “That’s BAD, Sprotacus!” he chastises.

Sportacus laughs. “It is, but it's okay, because I have juice now! Juice brings my blood sugar up very fast.” He takes another sip of his juice, thinking. “There are times, too, where I might get so low I might need something with REAL sugar. Like cake frosting, for example."

“Really?” Stephanie asks. “Won’t that put you in a sugar meltdown?”

“It will, but being in a sugar meltdown is actually quite preferable to having a very low blood sugar.” 

“Huh. So sugar meltdowns have nothing to do with this, then?”

“They do not." Sugar meltdowns are actually related to the type of elf Sportacus is, which is a different conversation altogether.

“Hm. Weird,” she says, but does not ask any more questions about it. That is a relief to Sportacus – he really doesn't feel like having a conversation regarding elvish-ness right now. He's ready to start playing again.

He waits a little bit, then checks his blood sugar on his pump. It has gone up enough now that they can continue their game of soccer.

“Wait, Sportacus,” Trixie asks before the game really starts up again, “is there a name for all of this? Like, what is it called?”

“Oh! It is called type-one diabetes,” Sportacus says. “A lot of people have it, and it can be a bit more difficult for us to stay healthy, but if we do a good job watching our blood sugar and giving ourselves insulin when we need it, we can live a normal, healthy life, just like everyone else!”

“Ooh, neat!” Trixie says. “Okay okay okay, enough talking. Time to play!”

Before long, they have launched back into their game, playing as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks 4 reading ily (smooch)! remember to follow my tumblr, type1hero10, i post writing headcanons, and will eventually post art there too!
> 
> also please leave feedback! :^D


End file.
